Flying Pig Marathon 07- Early Start

After falling asleep at 8:30 PM to wake at 12:30 AM and sleep fitfully for the next 3 hours I finally got off the couch at 3:30 AM. I threw on some running clothes and went out into the dark for a 5 minute shake out run. I had my headlamp and our friends live right on a bike path so other than a scary growling in the bushes, it was the perfect location for a 3:30 AM shake out run :)

I made my tea and ate a bowl of cheerios while checking the weather. It looked to be perfect. Hit the shower, applied sunscreen, on with the race outfit, kiss goodbye to David and I was off to the race.

Traffic was super light and I had no trouble finding a lot near the start. I grabbed my gear bag and my belt with gels and walked over to the starting area. Volunteers were just starting to get there so I headed into Paul Brown Stadium to wait for the start and do the whole wait in the bathroom line repeatedly routine, gotta love pre race jitters. I ate a zone bar to top off my energy supplies and chatted with a friendly lady while waiting for the start. The race having the stadium open for the runners was awesome. It was a bit chilly and windy and being indoors was a great way to keep the chills away.

I headed to the start with about 15 minutes to spare. Lined up behind the 3:30 pace group and found a local runner that I had run with at the winter Buckeye 50K. She was aiming to break 3:30 and her husband was there running the half. We chatted pre race and as the sun came up and the star spangled banner was sung I stripped my outer throw away layer and got ready to run.

I felt great and had no doubts that I was ready to fly through the pig course.

6 comments:

◈lunaluna◈ said...

Your blog is very interesting.
Bye bye

The Salty One said...

I saw your time in the results (pretty sure it's you). Congrats on a great time! I'm sure you have mixed feelings about it--who doesn't when they run a good time, but not quite goal time?!

I'm sorry to hear you weren't feeling so hot after the race. Running a marathon can really do a number on your insides!

Anyway, rest up and enjoy your recovery. I can't wait to hear about the rest of the race!!

Janet Edwards said...

Only 4 hours of quality sleep and then getting up at 3:30??? Ouch!!! If only our mind was not so in tune to that big event the next day, perhaps we could actually get a good night's sleep the night before!!!!

Toasty said...

ok ... so far so good?

Anonymous said...

you would eat cheerios. now i have an old ad jingle in my head. and i'm think of cheerios garlands made in first grade.

Unknown said...

"shake out run..." now that's a concept I have not heard before. Impressive!